July Book Log

 

As I look at what book I read at the beginning of this month and what book I finished on the last day of the month, I reach one indisputable conclusion: July was a really long month. Here's how I occupied my (admittedly sparse) free time!

Reading Through the Fantastic Four- (5th series) #1-14, 642-645, Secret Wars #1-9, Marvel Two-in-One #1-12

This month marked a period of transition for the FF, the first period in the team's history when it did not have a monthly title. It all begins with James Robinson's run, an inconsequential but fun ride in which the team is disbanded due to a conspiracy that sees them disgraced in the eye of the public. It all makes for good character work, even as your realize while reading that it won't lead to anything permanent.

What did feel permanent, at least for a time, was when the FF (or at least the Richards family) was shuffled off of the Marvel Universe as part of Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars crossover event which brought the Ultimate Universe to an end and served as a fitting conclusion to years of buildup on his Avengers titles. What no expected was that Hickman would also use it as the coda to his Fantastic Four run, culminating in an epic duel between Reed and an omnipotent Doctor Doom whose only weakness is his own hubris and hatred of Reed. Secret Wars, for all its implications on the Marvel Universe, is at its best in these more personal moments.

When Secret Wars ends, the Richards family is taken off the metaphorical game board, leaving Ben and Johnny behind to pick up the pieces. To fill this vacuum, a yearlong Marvel Two-in-One book sees the two of them go dimension hopping in search of their lost teammates. It makes for fun romps and great character work for both characters before the team is finally reunited at the end.

Next month I end this looooong reread by catching up on the team's most recent run, courtesy of longtime Marvel scribe Dan Slott. See you then! 

ON WRITING by Stephen King

Since I first read The Dead Zone on a whim in college—I legitimately have no idea what prompted me to check it out of Baylor's library—Stephen King has been my favorite popular-level (i.e. not "literary" or theological) author. And, despite the millions of dollars he's earned and scores of film and TV adaptations of his books, I think his writing is actually underrated. Often pigeonholed as the 'horror guy,' King is in truth a master storyteller, gifted at propelling you through a narrative and making you enjoy what you're reading.

On Writing is his account of how he does that. Part memoir, part instruction manual, it tells the story of how King came to love his craft, how he improved at it along the way, how alcoholism nearly derailed his life and career, and how writing slowly lifted him out of despair after an automobile accident that nearly killed him. Accompanying the memoir is a section on simple tricks of the trade he's picked up, from his antipathy for adverbs to advice for getting published once you've written your first stories.

King's overarching point is as comforting as it is challenging—writing is almost never a divine gift; it's a job, and you get good at it by doing it and doing it a lot. King writes every day—literally every day; he takes no holidays from writing—and doesn't stop until he's banged out 10 pages, and he spends nearly as many hours per day reading as he does writing. His chief advice to aspiring writers is not to take a course or rent a cabin in the woods, but to read as much as you can and write every day. Anybody, he insists, can do it.

Is he right? I'm not sure—the more Stephen King I read, the more I'm convinced that he's as talented as he is hardworking. But when you read his story, he manages to pull you in and make you believe. After all, that's what good storytelling does.

CARRIE by Stephen King

What, you thought I was going to read a how-to book by Stephen King and then not read one of his novels?

This was actually my second reading of his debut book, the famous and now thrice-adapted story of a teenage girl whose emerging telekinetic powers manifest in a shower of blood and fire when school bullies push her too far. Part thriller, part tragedy, part coming-of-age story, it's an ideal introduction to King's style of horror, packed with characters who manage to be both relatable and monstrous at the same time.

King has admitted that Carrie is more of a novella than a novel, but he managed to pad it with interspersed news bulletins, interviews, etc. that serve to both foreshadow the book's climax and make the story feel real. Whether this book would have been better without those asides or not (my vote is to keep them), in either case Carrie is arguably King's tightest novel at a mere 212 pages. Between that length and King's knack for getting you to turn the page, I finished this book in about 2 days, rarely able to keep away for long.

Thanks to the movies, you may already know the story of Carrie. But if you haven't read it, this remains one of Stephen King's finest almost 50 years after its initial publication.

NIRVANA: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY by Andrew Earles

When Nevermind dropped in September of 1991, nobody had any reason to believe it would become anything more than what it appeared to be: a strong sophomore effort from a talented punk band out of Seattle. Instead, fueled by the incalculable mixture of undeniable talent, a charismatic front man, and an audience ready for a change, Nirvana went from a regional garage band to international superstars seemingly overnight. Less than 3 years later, the band would be no more, ended with one self-inflicted gunshot.

Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History is a coffee table book in every sense, light on new information and heavy on photos, scans of concert posters and ticket stubs, and other visual mementos. Beginning with Kurt Cobain's childhood in Aberdeen, it quickly shifts to the formation of the band and their exploits from 1987 through 1994 before ending with an epilogue about Nirvana's legacy. While careful to avoid historiography—the author is openly dismissive of the Saint Kurt mythology that became so prevalent after Cobain's suicide—the book is appropriately nostalgic, working less as a definitive history than a breezy joyride for fans.

The highlight of the book is a collection of inserts that appear every other page or so, listing and providing a one-paragraph review of Kurt's 50 favorite albums (as listed in his posthumously published journals.) Ranging from the Beatles to Black Flag to a vast array of unknown punk bands, these snapshots are a fascinating look at the music that shaped the enigmatic voice of Generation X.

I bought this book on sale at Half Price Books, and it was worth what I paid for it, but I probably won't hang on to it. Nirvana fans will be well served by its content, casual listeners probably won't care much.

KING: A LIFE by Jonathan Eig

Whenever I'm called upon to share my most admired historical figures/5 people I'd want to have dinner with/people I never get tired of learning about, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is always one of the first names who comes to mind. A Baptist pastor by trade, his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement elevated him to the status of national prophet, and his assassination in 1969 made him a secular saint whose name adorns everything from city streets to schools to a monument in Washington D.C. So when I learned that respected journalist and author Jonathan Eig (whose biography of Lou Gehrig I read a few years ago) had written a new, critically acclaimed biography of Dr. King, I snatched it up immediately.

Eig's stated intention in the book is to tell the story of King the man rather than King the myth. That doesn't mean the book is a seedy tell-all, but neither does Eig shy away from some of the less-than-pristine parts of King's story. This begins with the young King's habit of plagiarizing in his college and seminary days, an academic sin which was never caught at the time. But more significantly, Eig details—aided by recently released FBI files and tapes—how King conducted affairs throughout his marriage, a long-rumored dirty secret that this biography confirms as verifiable fact.

Where those FBI files chip away at the perception of King as a larger-than-life saint, they also reveal just how much of a threat he was perceived to be by operators in the federal government, most notably J. Edgar Hoover. The wealth of information from the FBI—with more still to come in 2027—shows how frequently the Bureau wiretapped King under the dubious claim that he was a Communist sympathizer. King, especially in his final years, was under a tremendous amount of strain, and this biography shows how it was this constant surveillance from his government, along with intense public scrutiny, that caused his stress far more the vitriol he received from the Bull Connors and Jim Clarks of the world.

This one-volume biography, which begins with King's grandparents and traces his journey all the way to the Lorraine Motel, is a comprehensive but accessible look at one of the most famous figures of the 20th century. By relying on never-before-revealed sources and coming at the project with a journalist's wary eye, Eig presents a true history rather than the historiography King's memory so often enjoys. You'll walk away from this book still convinced of King's greatness, but reminded of an important fact: before he was a monument, he was a man.